Columbus Blue Jackets @ Toronto Maples Leafs: 2024-25 NHL Season Game 48

Tonight was a big night for a recently called-up Blue Jacket. Luca Del Bel Bellze is from Toronto, and tonight marks his first time playing in the arena where he watched NHL hockey as a kid. This special moment would kick off a period full of them for the visiting Jackets. The game would get started with a few swings by Mathieu Olivier and Ryan Reaves. If you want to see a true hockey fight, go find this one. The blows were strong and the energy was up. Of course, both men got a five-minute misconduct for fighting, but damn it was worth it! A few minutes later, one of the funniest things I've seen in a while would happen as both Leafs' Auston Mathews and Jackets' Elvis Merzlikins would both lose their sticks in the gameplay process, then grab each other's stick to continue playing! I don't know about you, but a forward trying to score with a goalie stick brings me so much joy! Both players got two-minute penalties for this, which I would dismiss for creativity, but I guess the NHL rules don't consider that. As the period was about to close, still locked at 0-0, Zach Werenski would go off the ice for a tripping penalty. With seconds left on that call, Adam Fantilli, another player from Toronto, would rush down the ice and accept a pass he quickly turned into his twelfth goal this season and his first shorthanded goal ever! The goal would come at 15:40 and give Ivan Provorov his seventeenth assist this season on the primary and Mathieu Olivier his eighth on the secondary. The Leavs would not answer this goal before the period could close and the Jackets would go into the second period with a 1-0 lead. 

Period two would prove what I've said for years, it's not the quantity of shots, it's the quality! The Leafs would come close to tying the game about halfway through the period, but Elvis Merzlikins would go full starfish on the ice and stop the shot. Seconds later, James van Riemsdyk would add his ninth goal this season at 13"40! Luca Del Bel Belluz would pick up the primary assist on this goal in his first game playing back home in Toronto, and this would become his third assist this season in just seven games. The secondary assist would go to Kent Johnson and it would become his fifteenth this season. Less than two minutes later, Adam Fantilli would put himself on hatty watch with his second goal tonight and thirteenth goal of the season at 15:21! This would take the Jackets' lead to 3-0 and give Dimitri Voronkov his fifteenth assist this season on the primary; there was no secondary assist. Remember what I said at the beginning of this paragraph about quality being better than quantity? The Jackets would have two goals this period on just five shots on the Toronto net. Well done, guys, not that I'm surprised. 

The night was already going good for Luca Del Bel Belluz in his first NHL game back home in Toronto, but it would turn great at 5:56 in period three as he'd score his second goal of his NHL season, and unassisted, too! This would take the Jackets' to a 4-0 lead. A. Mathews would spoil the shutout for Elvis Merzlikins at 9:22 and this would be his twentieth goal this season. The primary assist would be number twenty-two for W. Nylander and the secondary would be number seventeen for O. Ekman-Lares, But, relatively early, the Leafs would pull their goalie, and not long after Adam Fantilli would complete his first hattrick of his NHL career, and in his hometown, too! What a moment! This empty net goal would become Adam Fantilli's fourteenth goal this season and it would be scored at 12:02. Kirill Marchenko would come away with the primary assist, giving him thirty-three this season while teammate Dante Fabbro would add his eighth this season on the secondary. This would take us to a 5-1 Jackets lead and when the clock hit 00:00 it would still be 5-1 as the Jackets secured a huge win and needed 2 points!

The Third Star of the Game in his first game home was Luca Del Bel Belluz after a 1-1-2 night. 

With his .967 save percentage on the Leafs' 30 shots on goal, stopping 29 of them, Elvis Merzlikins secured the Second Star of the Game. 

And, with his very first NHL Hattrick, Adam Fantilli secures the First Star of the Game! The fact he did it in Toronto, his hometown, is just amazing. I wanted him in the 2023 NHL Draft, we got him, and every time I get to write about him I'm so proud. Tonight, I could not be happier for him or prouder of him. Way to go #19! 

The Jackets will jump straight on a plane and fly to North Carolina. They will play again in less than twenty-four hours at the Hurricanes. This is the end of a road trip and I hope to see them leave it all on the ice as they carry the high of this huge win with them! The puck will drop at 7:00 p.m. and be on the CW for those of you in Ohio! 

GO #19, GO CBJ!